Prism surveillance scandal: will you boycott the accused?

In the light of the Prism surveillance scandal in the US, Dan Smith takes a
look at alternative service providers for those looking to boycott the
alleged offenders, from web browsers to social networking.

News of the Prism scandal has left many calling for a boycott on service providers such as Apple, Google and Facebook
Photo: (c) Michael Banks

Allegations of internet companies being less than careful with their users’ private data are nothing new. However, the Prism scandal places the United States government firmly alongside some of the biggest names in tech.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) stands accused of gaining access to the private communications of citizens through several internet giants.

Almost all companies involved have denied any wrongdoing. Yet a PowerPoint slide leaked by NSA employee Edward Snowden alleges the situation allowed for: ‘Collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.’

This breach of public trust has resulted in some commentators calling for a boycott on these companies’ services. That might be a bit extreme – it’s unlikely you’ll bin your Windows laptop, Macbook, iPhone or Android. But there are alternatives well worth considering.

Let’s start with email. You may have heard of the Opera browser, but its Norwegian developer also provides a highly capable email client. On Windows, Mac and Linux, Opera Mail supports POP, IMAP, RSS and Atom feeds (so will sync with other email software). It is fast, features an elegant interface and has good spam protection, too.

Opera Mail is accessed through the Opera browser – so if you do switch your email provider, you could do worse than relying on it for the web. It’s widely compatible on desktop and mobile operating systems, very fast and has tons of add-ons.

However, Mozilla Firefox is the leader of the pack. It may have lost ground to Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari in recent years, but the open-source browser will probably see a bump in users following Prism. With a huge array of extensions, an excellent interface and tabs for web apps, it’s one of the most versatile browsers around.

If you’re running Android, check out Dolphin Browser HD and Skyfire. While iOS users with an iPad should take a look at iCab Mobile and Atomic Browser.

What about social networking? Those choosing to boycott might drop the big guns (such as Facebook or Google+), but Twitter was not on the NSA’s list. It appears the micro-blogging platform refused to take part in Prism, so you can compose 140 character messages to your heart’s content.

Path – a social network that limits users to 150 friends – was also missing from the list. But beware; the network’s past is far from squeaky clean. In February 2011, Path got into trouble for securely storing members’ phone contacts without their knowledge and a year later was hauled in front of the US Federal Trade Commission for collecting data from underage users without parental consent.

For video, you might try Dailymotion or Vimeo, instead of YouTube. And of course there’s Vine – Twitter’s own increasingly popular micro-video sharing platform.